Tropical regions receive the highest level of global solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation especially UV-B (280-320 nm). The average daily dose of the UV-B radiation in Madurai, South India ($ 10^{circ}N $) is $10 kJ m^{-2}$. This is approximately $ 50\% $ more than the average daily UV-B radiation in many European countries. A field study was conducted using selective filters to remove either the UV-B (< 320 nm) or UV-B/A (< 400 nm) of the solar spectrum, and the effects were followed in Cyamopsis tetragonoloba, Vigna mungo, and Vigna radiata to determine their sensitivity to UV. When compared to ambient radiation, exclusion of solar UV-B increased the seedling height, leaf area, fresh weight and dry weight and the crop yield by $ 50\% $ in the case of Cyamopsis, and the extent of such increase was slightly less under UV-B/A exclusion. In V. mungo a significant reduction was seen in solar UV excluded plants while V. radiata was found to be unaffected.